A/N: My body crashed and I slept in faaar later than I should have. Gotta run, lest I be late for work.

Looking forward to your feedback/chatting with you when I get back!"

ONE CHAPTER REMAINS.

In other news depression's starting to hit real hard these days. Sometimes I wonder why I do anything at all. I can't claim to understand what's going wrong with my head. I don't even know why! One moment I'm fine, then my mood craters for a few hours, then I'm back again for a bit, and the cycle repeats. Its rather annoying; as though I've become a prisoner in my own mind sometimes. Sure, what's one more mental problem on the pile. Not like I don't have enough, what with already being this old. Feels like every day is a battle sometimes. My doctor is of no help at all.

*siiiigh* Don't mind the rambling of this geezer...

With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.

And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.

Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.

So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than I.

I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.

Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.

In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!

"Yes, excellent!

I haven't had this much fun in ages!

What did you say your name was again...?"

~?

Place Your Bets

Sun's team never stood a chance.

Yang didn't consider herself the gambling sort, but she knew stacked odds when she saw them. Team SSSN was summarily manhandled, toyed with, picked apart and destroyed one by one. Be it by simple aura exhaustion or painful ring out they were beaten down one by one and defeated. Sun himself was the last to fall and she was sure his ego had taken a bruising. What was the term video games used?

Flawless victory? Yeah that was it.

"And there we have it!" Port's voice boomed from the booth to raucous applause. "Team SVRN advances! A fantastic show! Shame it ended so quickly!

SVRN indeed. Scavengers more like!

Yang liked to think she was a pretty considerate gal, but this was too much even for her; bad enough that Adam's team was in here -and she was sure Blake would go berserk when she saw them- but now Dad was being a proper troll about this. No one was beating him and his so-called team. Not team JNPR and certainly not team RWBY

"Hey! That's cheating!"

Nora gave her a sidelong look...and you think Port cares becaaauuuse?"

Fair point. Port did what Port wanted; probably easy to bribe him. "But what about professor-

"Doctor!" Their teacher's furious voice interjected from the booth with the fury of ten thousand suns.

-Doctor Oobleck." she amended a little ruefully, not wanting to receive an avalanche of extra homework.

"Isn't it obvious?" Pyrrha hid a smile behind her hand. "Father probably bribed him with the finest Grade-A coffee he has in stock."

"Indeed we did!

Speak of the devil and he shall appear! There was "Team SVRN" now, traipsing up the steps looking far, far too smug with themselves. Those were very good disguises; they certainly held up well under scrutiny and no amount of poking or prodding on Pyrrha and Nora's part seemed to break them. Huh, neat-no! Not neat! This was the opposite of neat! How the heck were they supposed to fight his team?!

...I forfeit."

"Blake, no! We're in this together!"

Weiss scoffed at the lot of them. "Have you no shame?"

Dad lifted his eyepatch and winked. "Shame is for the dead, Weiss-cream."

"No!" the surly Schnee stabbed an outraged finger at him, redder than Ruby's namesake. "Not you, too!

Ruby scuffed a foot on the floor. "I though it was funny...

Dad patted her head. "It was, petal. It was."

"Heh. I know good jokes."

"Don't get any ideas." Mom was still a smug bitch, even when she looked half her age." Its a temporary thing. We'll be back to normal in a few days."

Sapphire swiped her daughter's questing finger away from her cheek. Vanessa did he same for Pyrrha, albeit far more kindly.

"Appearance only, I assure you." the former hummed. "We can and will take you over my knee if you get any ideas.

"Speaking of ideas," Naruto rounded on Pyrrha." what's this I hear about you dating a certain blond teammate?"

Yang winced. Good thing Jaune was off using the boy's room right about now...

.

..

...yup, he was screwed when he got back.

Pyrrha buried her face in her hands. "Daddy, no! Its not like that!"

"Daddy yes! I just wanna talk to him, I-

Blake raised a hand. "I may be dating Yang in the future. Would that be a problem?"

Yang squawked, both embarrassed and excited all at once. "Excuse me?!"

Dad gave her a long lingering look. "...seems fine to me."

"Traitor! Double standards! Don't I get a say in this?!"

"No." Dad looked to the left suddenly, and frowned.

His eyes met mom's. They shared a nod.

"I'll be riiiight back...

(.0.0.0.)

He could sense them.

Wasn't all that hard, given his abilities.

There was a certain joy to be had in one's children he found, but also in protecting them.

In his The best problems were the ones they never knew about; those he discreetly dealt with before they realized what was going on. This was one such problem. A quick glance at Raven and Vanessa told them to watch over the kids and he knew that at least Sapphire got the message, for she returned it in kind, freeing him of any worry to pursue the matter.

He followed the negative swirl of emotions away from his family, away from the crowds, away from the stands, deeper int Amity. Down he went, threading his way through dimly lit halls illuminated by fluorescent lights, away from the festival and into the bowels of the beast.

It was there that he found them.

Even a deaf man could've heard them with the racket they were making.

"Careful with those charges! One of them hissed. "We've only got one shot at this!"

His gaze narrowed at the sight of said charges. There weren't many, but then again, there didn't have to be.

Time to intervene.

"White Fang? Really?" He stepped out around the corner with a sigh, causing the terrorists to jolt. "I thought Adam already taught you lot a lesson. Sorry, but this is as far as you go." he stepped out the shadows, blocking their path. "I wanna let the kids enjoy their first tournament in peace, ya know. So unless you found someone willing to take Cinder's place...?"

The silence was their answer. He cast a glance back.

"You did, didn't you?" his lips thinned. "Who was it, then? Sienna? Ilia? Trifa? Some other White Fang fool? None of the above? C'mon, give an old baker a hint."

"..."

"Tell me their name and I'll spare you."

No response. Blasted fanatics. He shouldn't have bothered.

"Yuma, Trifa. Even you, Illia?" he clicked his tongue, taking them in. "Adam told me about you three. Which means-

A whip snarled at him out the dark he caught it with one hand.

-your boss must be here."

He yanked and a startled yelp was his reward as someone flew past him, right into his arm. He casually clotheslined them and sent them spinning into their fellows. Dark skin gleamed in the corner of his eyes, darker hair and bright amber-gold eyes. Disappointment seared through him, hot and heady.

"Honestly, Sienna. I thought you were smarter than; that you knew better than this."

The so-called leader of the White Fang righted herself with a groan. "We don't have any choice."

"Yes, you do." he shook his head. "You can walk away. Or you can die. And you, Illia." his gaze singled out one masked individual among the rest. "Blake would be so disappointed in you...

The little Chameleon Faunus wilted, but rallied under the glares of her fellows. "Adam betrayed us! He'll sell us out to Atlas!"

"Is that your reason for being here? A shot at revenge?"

Their faces said it all.

"Of course you are." He clicked his tongue at them in mild admonishment. "How has that worked out for you?" He looked left, then right, sneering at every soul in sight."Not so well I take it. Even if you somehow managed to pull this off, you'd have the entire world after you. Really, I'm doing you a favor...but I don't see Watts or Hazel with you. Which means you must be the distraction...

He stepped to the side. Guns came up.

"How...adorable. If you think I'm the real danger here, you're sadly mistaken."

Sienna scowled. "You overestimate yourself. You're just one man. All men die sooner or later. Even someone like you."

"There it is." he raised a finger, pointing. "Right there. That's the look. Everyone think's they'll be the one to defeat me, to outrun me, to outwit me; but no one's escaped me yet. Do you think you're the first to try this, my dear? No, no, no." he shook his head, setting his blond bangs swaying. "There have been so many now. I've honestly lost track of them. Its almost...sad.

One of the grunts took the bait, bless their simple sou. "What is?

"The fact that I no longer remember all the men and women I've killed." he pushed a hand through his hair and glared down at them. "And by the end of the day...I probably won't remember any of you, either."

They broke ranks and rushed them.

"Slow." He slapped Illia's whip out the air. The bat faunus blitzed him. "Sloppy." A quick twist to the right. "Sad. You're not living up to White Fang legend here, kids. Alright." he leaped away, pivoted, stepped forward and spread his arms wide. "I'll play. YOU HAVE NINE SECONDS."

Credit where it was due, they acted quickly. He'd give them full marks for that.

A whip cracked out, obliterating his right eye. He allowed it.

One second.

Clenched knuckles slammed into his face, obliterating half his skull. Two seconds. His head snapped backward. Five. In the same instant that fist closed around it and smashed him down. Once. Twice. Thrice. He was still reeling when his would be killer leaped away; when the rest unloaded on him, filling his body with holes. Six. Explosive rounds. They'd done their homework. Seven. He slumped where he lay. Eight. Blood slid down the concrete. A sword slammed into his back and severed his spine. Nine. Crimson pooled beneath him as his ruined body slumped to the street.

Silence pervaded the night...followed by low laughter.

...excellent." His head rose with a cackle, the wounds in his body already regenerating. "I haven't had this much fun in ages...!"

With an awful pop, his broken bones realigned themselves. His eyes sought their leader.

"What did you say your name was again...? I've already forgotten it."

The White Fang radicalists shrank back, to a man.

"You want to know why Adam betrayed you?" he laughed right in their faces. "Love. There you go. My son's in love, you silly twits. Love makes you do crazy things. Or maybe not so crazy, given he was once part and parcel to this madness...

Sienna brandished her whip with a snarl. "He sold us out!"

A blond brow rose. "And this is my problem how?"

"If you die everything will go back to normal! Everything-ack?!" Sienna choked as he seized her by the throat, hoisted her up and slammed her against the nearest bulkhead. "N-No!"

"Normal?" he rasped out a laugh and raised her higher still. "Sweetheart, you're a few decades too late for that. And this is the end of the line for you."

He squeezed, broke her neck, and she went limp in his grasp. It was a better death than she deserved."

He let her corpse drop like so much refuse. "Next."

Yuma rushed him. Foolishness.

He tore him apart and left his severed halves to fall at his feet.

Trifa clamored backward. "Monster! What are you?!"

"Child," he sighed, "I don't hate you. If anything, I pity you. You let Watts whisper in your ear and promise you power; power he can't even provide...

She scowled at him. "I'm not child of yours!"

"You may as well be." he tutted at them. "I'm older than you could even begin to comprehend. Would you believe I tried to change the White Fang once? He shrugged. "Didn't work out, of course. There were extenuating circumstances. And now I see why. You see, just this once, violence isn't the answer. Really? Really! Today, violence is the question." He pulled them forward, grinning in their face.

"And the answer is yes."

Trifa tried to scream. He didn't let her.

Clawed fingers flashed across her throat.

(.0.0.0.)

Hazel regarded his scroll and the bloody footage within.

The hidden camera had done its work well. He saw the last desperate stand of the White Fang radicalists and watched them die. It was not a clean death. Naruto slaughtered them all down to the last man, laughing all the while. Really it was the laughter that unnerved him. Hazel thought himself a hard man, but how one individual could delight in such visceral death disturbed even him. He'd killed them all-no, wait, he told a lie. One ran. It was that little chameleon Faunus. Naruto walked after her, dripping blood-

He closed down his Scroll and touched two fingers to his ear. "They've failed. He won't be distracted much longer."

"But of course," Watts tutted via the earpiece. "What else can you expect from mere animals? They were ever meant to be a distraction."

"A loss of life is still something to be mourned, no mater the side."

"Don't go soft on me now, Hazel."

He wasn't. He merely found this regrettable.

Watts huffed. "Do you have eyes on those brats of his?

He looked to the stands below. "I do."

"Excellent! Kill them, and take one alive if you can. But not the blond one. We know Raven Branwen has a portal to her at least."

"You knew?"

"Naturally." He could just imagine the man twirling his mustache on the line.

The beginnings of a scowl wrought his stern face. "And you didn't think to tell Cinder? She could have survived had she known this."

"A shame she didn't." so that was it, then. He'd withheld the information, knowing it would lead to her demise. "Her plan was flawed. Mine is not. Now take the girl. That will be sure to drive our whiskered friend mad with fury. We want him angry and distracted. He will rush into the trap we've laid and when he does-bzzzt?!"

An awful squeal of static filled his ear, eliciting a flinch. He frowned and tapped the earpiece again. "Watts? What was that? What happened?"

"Sal~u~tations~!" a girl's merry voice answered him. "This line now belongs to Atlas. You are both under arrest!"

Watts swore an utterly unprofessional oath. "We've been had! Get out of there before-

A mighty shout drowned out is words. "Atlas Specialists! Open up!

He heard the sound of someone breaking down a door.

"Fools! Do you have any idea who I am-ack?!"

The line died with a pained squawk.

Hazel was still processing that when something sharp and thin looped around his neck. In an instant he was dragged backward, hauled into the shadows. Garrot dust wire, he realized, eyes bulging. Expensive. Deadly. He could already feel it burning his throat, choking his voice down. He tried to work his fingers under it, to no avail; he only succeeded in bloodying his fingertips.

Air!

He needed air!

He hadn't had time to take a breath!

"Hello there!" A low, feminine voice crooned in his ear as he rasped for oxygen. "We couldn't help but notice you eyeing our daughters over here. You're not exactly the subtle type." her words sounded sweet, but he knew they were the purest of poison, "Do us a favor and die quietly, won't you? It would be so much easier for all parties involved."

Hazel lumbered backward and tried to smash her against a wall, to no avail. She clung on and tightened the wire around his neck. He couldn't grasp it. Couldn't grab her. She'd positioned herself perfectly behind him and his arms were far too large to reach her properly. Panic mounted within him. Air. Needed air...needed it now!

"I hear you can't feel pain," Sapphire hissed in his ear as she drew his noose tight. "Well, that's just fine with me. You don't need to feel pain to breathe. You need air. And you have none now...

Hazel slammed a fist backward and was rewarded with a grunt.

Yet still she held on.

He could not.

"Thought you could go after my Nora, did you?" she leaned closer, all but hissing in his ear. "My baby girl? I don't think so. I only just found her again. You don't get to take her away from me." he tried to retort to that effect, but only a rasping gurgle emerge. "Raven wanted to chop off your head. Vanessa said we should cut you in half and be done with it. We disagreed. Both of those are too quick."

We...?

"You see," "When your hopes and dreams are in ashes, when you're choking out your last breath, then you have our permission to die.

His vision began to go gray at the edges, and his struggles weakened. Death! This was the end of his life and he could do nothing to stop it. He couldn't die like this. All his life he had fought for vengeance, against Ozpin, for Gretchen, for the sake of his family, that which he had lost. To die here...no...he couldn't...

He was.

"I...see...a light...

"Good." General Ironwood himself stepped out of a side corridor and pressed the barrel of a handcannon to his temple. "Walk towards it."

Hazel's eyes widened as he stared down the barrel of the gun gun. So that was it, then. They'd been outplayed from the first-

A harsh bang took all light and color from his world. Darkness rushed in.

Hazel hoped he would see his sister at the end of it.

He did not.

A/N: Aaaaand scene.

About one chapter left now, more or less.

Feels strange to have this story wrapping up soon. I almost don't want to see it end...

As ever, reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.

So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?

They keeps an old man alive.

And enjoy the previews.

As ever:

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!

PLOT DETAILS AHOY!

YE BE WARNED!

Get ready to smile~!

Obvious references are obvious~!

(POTENTIAL!) Previews! What can I say? I've been busy.

An explosion rocked the arena.

"Hullo, Salem. Come to collect what's left of your minions, have you? Sorry. I"M NOT DONE."

Time passes as all things do.

Little arms reached for him. "Dad, dad, dad! Up!"

"No! Me first! Me, me, me!"

"I was first!"

Hard to believe its almost over. "Anybody wants some cookies before we close up shop?"

Ruby's arm shot into the air. "Me! MememeMEEEE~!"

R&R~!